Dotson siblings both chasing state titles for Daniel

Before they were stars playing for a state championship, Anicia and Justin Dotson were just like an average brother and sister.

In elementary school, Anicia, the older sister, would reprimand her little brother for throwing a basketball against the house while she was watching television.

Then the "junk talk" would start, as Justin would be relentless telling big sister how much better he was at basketball.

"‘Oh I'm better than you, my shot is better than yours,'" Anicia recalled Justin saying. "We would always go at it, and I guess that was a challenge for both of us to be at the level we're at now."

The siblings have come a long way since the days of dribbling a basketball on the porch and bouncing it off the house.

On Saturday they'll each play for a state championship for D.W. Daniel at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

Anicia, a senior guard, is her team's leading scorer, and she averages 15.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. Justin, a freshman guard, has played some of his best basketball in the playoffs. For the season, Justin averages 13.3 points per game, but in the playoffs, he's scored at least 17 in each game and has averaged 20.8 points.

No matter how well Justin plays, Anicia, and both Daniel coaches have said that he'll still be her little brother. A year after Justin played on the varsity team as an eighth grader, he's in the starting lineup as a freshman.

Anicia said when she watches the boys' games, she's proud to hear fans that are impressed to learn that her brother is playing at a high level as a freshman.

"(It) makes me feel good as a big sister," she said.

Last season in a game at Pendleton, Justin had a breakout game, Daniel boys coach Jeff Maness said, as he scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds. The trouble was that Anicia countered with about 30 points.

"So that was kind of funny," Maness said. "That even though he had his breakout, big sister still got the best of him."

Both coaches and many observers agree that the siblings have a similar playing style on the court: they can be a ball-handler, can score inside, and shoot from the perimeter.

"I see a lot of similarities between the two of them when she was younger," Daniel girls coach Jody Powell said. "I can look on the court and say, ‘Wow,' I can see some real similarities (in him) from when she was a young player. It's kind of fun in a way, and it'll be fun to see him grow into the kind of mature player that she has become. He's got some really good basketball left in him."

They've enjoyed the rare opportunity of playing alongside one another the last two playoff games as both Daniel teams have beaten J.L. Mann and Lower Richland.

Instead of one sibling watching from the stands, they're both on the court, and support each other in their pursuit for a state title.

Powell said she sometimes uses Justin in the girls' practice as a bigger body on defense. And she can give him pointers to relay on to his sister if suggestions need to come from another voice.

Like most siblings, they have their rifts, but Anicia said they'd keep in touch after she graduates from Daniel and moves away from her little brother.

She hesitated, though, when asked if the two siblings are close friends.

"Sometimes we can be," she said. "But a little brother's always going to be annoying."